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Filner must face the consequences; Springs as a destination

Regarding San Diego Mayor Bob Filner: His attempt to pass the blame for his misdeeds is simply another example of a California Democrat weenie trying to avoid responsibility for his actions. The San Diego City Council was right to deny him any compensation for his attorney fees. While Filner's victims may have a claim against the city of San Diego for Filner's actions, Filner must take the consequences for what he did.

Robert Shoop, Colorado Springs

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Elected believe they are gods

For crying out loud, where has personal responsibility gone? Not only was San Diego Mayor Bob Filner personally responsible, he was the mayor of the city and responsible for the operation of such programs as sexual harassment training.

People are elected to government positions and then believe they are gods. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah - "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

Thomas H. Fickas, Colorado Springs

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Morse rushed legislation through

Most of the discussion regarding John Morse's recall campaign is (and probably will be) centered on the two gun control bills he passed and the one he proposed, to hold gun owners liable for any crime committed with their gun. I would like him recalled, but not necessarily because I disagree with the way he supported universal background checks on private gun sales or the ban of large magazine clips (actually I disagree with him more for his vote to require rural energy coops to switch to green energy at great cost to the country folks than I do on the gun legislation).

My fear with Morse is the way he rushed the legislation through a vote on the wave of post-Newtown and Aurora fears this past January.

As President of the Senate, with complete control of the senate agenda, he limited the time the other senators were allowed to discuss the bills before they came to a vote. I am not one for filibustering, but legislation so often seems to be rushed through, without legislators or voters fully understanding the implications of the laws. He even allowed the group sheriffs, such as Terry Maketa, who went to speak against the bills, to be bullied by his party members - warning to hold up or stop legislation affecting sheriffs' pay unless they change their position on gun control. The last thing we need is another leader who stifles solutions-based discussion or intimidates people who want to be heard. Bernie Herpin may not be a guarantee, but after looking at Gazette.com back issues on his time in city council, he at least allowed open discussion and encouraged public participation and support of the middle class.

Rachel Craig, Colorado Springs

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Who does these things?

The Colorado Springs Airport took out a large ad in the Aug. 4 Sunday Gazette in an attempt to convince people it's cheaper to fly from the Colorado Springs rather than Denver. The example given was a three-day roundtrip to Boston. The ad was not only ineffective, it was offensive to any thinking person comparing travel costs before making reasonable decisions.

The ad claimed people who live in Colorado Springs but fly out of Denver's airport would: spend $19 on the E-470 toll road, spend $87 to park in the airport covered garage, spend $15 for a "snack", and spend $90 for a hotel because of an early departure. Who does these things?

Of course in the ad's summary, the person flying out of Denver pays $173 more than the traveler flying from Colorado Springs. Baloney.

Here's a distinctly different (but real) example to compare flying from Colorado Springs or Denver: A three-day trip to Washington, D.C. (Reagan Airport), leaving on Sept. 9 and returning Sept. 11, flying on United Airlines.

In this scenario, the traveler drives to the DIA on the same day as his departure, takes I-225 versus the toll road, parks in the Pikes Peak Shuttle lot at DIA, and takes a pass on the $15 snack. The traveler still pays more for gas and parking than the COS traveler but their total costs with airfare totals $493.80.

The same traveler who flies out of COS saves money on gas and long-term parking, declines the $12 snack (quoted in the ad) but is stuck with a $895.10 airfare; grand total for their expense is $916.10. One additional factor to consider is length of your travel day (time from leaving your house until the airplane lands at your destination.) In this scenario to Washington, the traveler leaving from COS has a 1 hour and 52 minute longer travel day.

Which airport would you choose?

The market responds to cost. Find a way to lower ticket costs from COS. Period. This isn't rocket science.

John Zentner, Colorado Springs

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Making the Springs a destination

Saw the ad pretaining to our convenient airport. Two things you need to ask yourself:

1) What if I want to go somewhere besides Boston?

2) Where did they come up with the cost of using DIA?

The problem is making Colorado Springs a destination.

How do we get the Gaylord Resort to look at us instead of Denver? Maybe host an X Games. Make downtown family friendly by making Tejon like Pearl Street in Boulder, including toll free parking on weekends.

Our meters set a time limit against the vendors to sell their product.

Oh, and leave the stadium alone.

Dale Gray, Colorado Springs

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A termite colony's banquet

People who are putting mulch in their yards are making a very serious mistake. Mulch attracted termite colonies to our yard, but fortunately an exterminator company determined that the termites had not yet reached our home.

It was very costly having our foundation treated with chemicals and still six years later we have to pay for checking our monitors. We had to remove all our mulch and wood to ground items.

The exterminator said they refer to mulch as a termite colony's banquet. He also said most of the mulch people are using comes from diseased trees.